The bill, excoriated by some as the next major expansion of gambling in Pennsylvania but lauded by tavern owners as a “fair play” measure, now travels back to the Senate, where it could be given final consideration next week.

The Senate did pass similar small games expansion language last month by a wider margin, but a spokesman for Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, said late changes will need to be reviewed on Monday before any vote takes place there.

Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration has also worked on development of the bill, which could bring as much as $156 million in new revenues to state coffers.

If trends in Indiana, where similar legislation was approved several years ago, hold in Pennsylvania, the state could see some 2,000 bars and taverns seeking the small games licenses.

That’s roughly double the number of private clubs already in the game.

“We will have more embezzlement, and we will have more families who sink into poverty because somebody in the family gambled away their paycheck,” argued Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne.

“I’m opposed to expanding gambling any further in Pennsylvania,” said Rep. Stephen Bloom, R-Carlisle. “I feel like it’s literally a tax on the poor and those who can least afford to be victimized by the government.”

Supporters fought back on both fronts.

They argued that the bill carefully limits the type of games a bar licensee can play to pull tabs, a game something like instant lottery tickets, a daily drawing and a monthly raffle where some proceeds go to charity.

There are also strict caps on total prize payouts and, in some cases, the frequency of an individual’s play: one section of the law says a bar’s daily drawing can go once a day, tickets are capped at $1, and each patron can buy only one ticket.

Tavern gaming licenses could only be obtained by bar owners who pass strict background checks, whose establishments have clean records, and that are located in towns where referendums authorizing small games have already been passed.

Supporters also assert that it is high time bars and taverns get a chance to enter the gaming realm that, over several decades, has been opened up to the private social clubs and fraternal groups on one side and commercial casino operators on the other.

One other factor that appeared to help them make their case this year is the Corbett Administration and top legislative leaders’ collective nervousness about the state’s short-term fiscal health in the wake of ballooning public pension system costs.

Corbett’s Department of Revenue projects that the 60 percent tax on the commercial bars’ net gaming proceeds could yield $156 million annually in new tax revenue to the state.

“It was definitely an important factor,” said House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County.

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